Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Pours a medium to dark mahogany brown with red highlights. Thin off-white head dissipated slowly to patches and a ring around the glass. Aroma of sweet bready malt, dark stone fruit and spicing that was reminiscent of winter warmers; cinnamon and cloves. Inviting. Flavor is unusual, starting with semi-sweet dark stone fruit, clove, dried dark fruit, earthy. Finishes much drier with a strong neutral hop and peppery spice finish. The cinnamon and cloves are strong in this one. Medium bodied. A different take on a BDSA, surprising dry for the sweet aroma, and almost medicinal in the bittering herbs and hops. Somehow this all came together for me and I enjoyed this quite a bit, although if I had my heart set on a classic Belgian dark profile, I wouldn't have been as happy. Cloves were very dominant here. I found the high ABV well hidden, making this a somewhat dangerous beer in a growler, sneaky to drink. One of those ales that are unusual enough that they invite continual tasting to try to figure out what's going on. Not what I expected, but quite good. I've heard good things about Pfriem and this is a fine start. I would have been very happy with this as a winter warmer.

The beer pours a fairly dark brown color with good head retention and lacing. The nose is pretty nice on this beer, as I get considerable brown sugar, chocolate, a hint of root beer, some vanilla and considerable underlying spice. The flavor profile replicates the nose pretty closely, with the yeast and spice component reminding me very much of a Belgian dubbel that was actually made in Belgium. The beer does seem to dry out pretty nicely on the finish, and I agree with some other reviews, that the finish on this beer is pretty dry and slightly hoppy (despite the initial moderate/modest sweetness in the beer). Unfortunately, I'm also getting considerable heat from the alcohol in this beer, which wore on me more and more as I went along. The first sip I tried, I thought "wow, what a great beer." However, half way through the glass I literally couldn't drink it anymore; that's how hot and boozy this beer was. Mouthfeel was medium bodied to full otherwise, with a long, spicy, lightly hoppy, hot finish.

An interesting beer, but the alcohol needs to be better integrated into the flavor profile. I ended up leaving half my glass at the Bier Stein, simply because the beer was too hot and alcoholic on the finish.

I've been enjoying this style a lot lately, and based on their reputation and the fact that these guys are local, I really wanted to like this beer. The appearance is pretty standard, and it starts out with a great creamy mouthfeel, though there is an odd bitter dirty flavor combined with an unpleasant artificial sugary sweetness. As it warms, it starts to taste like barf. Not just generically bad, but specifically like vomit. This beer is just terrible. I hope this was just a bad batch. Otherwise the brewers should be ashamed for unleashing this atrocity upon the world.

I visited pFriem during the Hops Fest held in Hood River, OR this year and couldn't have been more pleased. A fantastic brew pub with fantastic food and beers. Their strong dark was a stand out to me. A little bit of an alcohol tinge, especially as it warms up, otherwise a wonderful beer all around. Smells of currant, a bit port-like, caramel, toffee and a fatastic flavor. A sipper, well worth the time. I live in Bend and was so happy to find it on tap at Crow's Feet! Cheers!